A mob descended on a middle-aged woman suspected to be a kidnapper who kidnapped three school children.
The woman was set ablaze by the mob on Ekoro road, Abule Egba, Lagos.
The jungle justice caused a traffic gridlock that held motorists hostage for hours before traffic officials came to their rescue.
Crowd gather to watch the incident
ThisDay reports:
The suspect had allegedly driven to the area in an SUV but tried to escape in a tricycle when an alarm was raised against her plot.
According to an eyewitness account, the suspect allegedly attempted to kidnap three children who were on their way to school but had her plans foiled by a bread seller, who raised the alarm as the suspect tried to flee.
The angry mob was said to have beaten the woman to pulp before they hung a used tyre on her neck, poured petrol on her and set her ablaze.
Eyewitnesses alleged that after the mob had visited their harsh and summary verdict on the suspect, policemen from Oke-Odo Police Station eventually stormed the area only to meet the smoldering ashes of the deceased.
Although hundreds of people surrounded the charred corpse, the police said they could not make any arrest because they could not categorically state who partook in the bizarre act.
Simply identified as Farouk, a resident of the area said: “The three children were going to Army Children School in the area when the suspected kidnapper accosted them and pretended she was taking them to the school.
“When the bread seller alerted us, she tried to run but the mob caught up with her, beat her up before they set her ablaze.
“But this was after we challenged her on the ownership of the children. She claimed the children belonged to her, but the children said otherwise and that was when they began to beat her up.”
As at press time, the SUV the woman allegedly came with had been taken to the station and attempts to confirm from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Oke-Odo proved abortive as he was said to be in a meeting.
A similar incident had happened in Akure, the Ondo State capital, during the week. A woman who had posed as being insane, wearing unkempt wig had allegedly attempted kidnapping some school children.
Bystanders however foiled the kidnap bid. When she was searched, they found a Blackberry and Nokia phones on her. Upon interrogation, she confessed that she was on a kidnapping mission from Osogbo, Osun State.
